Should officers be armed on our violent streets?

Ivan Dunne knows what he wants: more armed police. Twelve years ago, his brother, Patrick, a policeman, was shot dead by Yardie gangsters in London. In the wake of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, Dunne believes the time has come to have more armed police on Britain's streets.

'Every time I hear about a police officer being killed it makes me feel physically sick. You know what their family is going through and you realise what they have got to come,' Dunne said.

'The only time there ever seems to be a debate about whether the police should be routinely armed is when another officer is killed. I have always thought that our police officers should be routinely armed.'

His belief echoes across the UK whenever an officer is shot in the line of duty. Two years ago, the Victims of Crime Trust, which campaigns on behalf of those affected by crime, called for all officers to be armed following the death of PC Ian Broadhurst.

Following the tragic events in Bradford, there were also calls for officers to be issued with new life-saving equipment. Tom McGhie, Police Federation chairman in West Yorkshire, said the force's 5,000 officers should wear bulletproof vests.

But any debate is difficult following the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station in July by officers who mistook him for a suicide bomber. The controversy over the shooting of Harry Stanley in London six years ago by two police officers who mistakenly believed he was carrying for a sawn-off shotgun has also cast a shadow over the debate.

In his Dimbleby lecture last Wednesday, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Sir Ian Blair, admitted the police's use of lethal force needed to be the subject of a public discussion.

'An open debate is now required not just about how police deal with suicide bombers but about how in a liberal democracy a largely unarmed service uses lethal force in any and all circumstances,' he added.

Successive surveys show that 80 per cent of the police do not want to be routinely armed. However, this weekend the Association of Chief Police Officers has called for more armed response officers, and it is significant that even the rank and file now believe more police officers should be given firearms training. Next May, at its annual conference, the Police Federation, which represents some 130,000 officers, will debate the need to arm more officers for the first time in 13 years.

Home Office statistics show there were some 6,837 armed officers a decade ago. By 2002 this had fallen to 5,763, but has started to rise again: there were 6,096 armed officers in 2004, the latest figures available.

But many in the police feel this figure is inadequate when gun crime is on the rise. Figures show firearms offences increased by 5 per cent on last year, to a total of 11,160. There were 4,903 such offences in 1997 when Labour came to power.

Around 10 per cent of the Metropolitan police are trained to carry firearms. In most other forces the figure is more like 5 per cent. Given the growing concerns over the prevalence of gun crime, it's likely there will be pressure to raise this figure.